Hidden Witness. Beverly Long

      “I’m going to need some help with the zipper,” she said.

      None of the men moved. Chase was pretty sure he’d stopped breathing.

      Finally, Sandy got behind her and Chase heard the gentle rasp of a zipper. With every inch, Chase felt his mouth get drier. She was beautiful. Once the zipper was up, the dress hugged her curves and the cut showed a generous portion of her pretty breasts that, quite frankly, hadn’t been all that visible in the T-shirt that she had been wearing.

      Dawson looked at him, his dark eyes wide with speculation. Chase ignored him.

      “Let’s get this over with,” Chief Bates instructed. He bent down, opened the plastic sack at his feet and proved that he hadn’t wasted time while waiting for Lorraine’s plane to land. He pulled out two items. The first one was flowers. They were wrapped in clear plastic and Chase recognized them as the kind you could buy for fifteen bucks at the grocery store. The chief thrust them toward Lorraine.

      She didn’t move, just stared at them.

      “Hang on,” Sandy said. She opened a drawer, pulled out a pair of scissors and efficiently cut off the plastic wrap, then trimmed off the long stems. When she finished, it was a very presentable bouquet.

      The second item in Chief Bates’s bag was a birthday cake. With pink and yellow balloons on it. “This was all they had,” he apologized.

      Chase thought he caught the glimpse of a smile on Lorraine’s face.

      “I can make it work,” Gavin said. “Chase and Lorraine, I need you to stand in front of this wall.”

      Chase moved to where Gavin pointed. After a second of hesitation, Lorraine did the same. Up close, he realized that he was probably about eight inches taller than her, which gave him a truly excellent view down the front of her dress.

      He felt his whole body get warm.

      He jerked his head up and stared at Gavin, who had his camera out. The man looked up, irritation on his face. “I can add a church background with Photoshop but I can’t make the two of you look happy. Come on. Work with me.”

      Chase licked his lips and sucked in a deep breath. Then he wrapped his arm around Lorraine’s shoulders. He bent his head, looked into her eyes and gave her his best smile.

      He thought she might tell him to go to hell. But after a long minute of staring into his eyes, she pasted on her own smile.

      And for the next fifteen minutes, he and Lorraine Taylor responded like trained seals. Gavin snapped pictures of them facing one another, side by side and even feeding each other pieces of cake off plastic plates that Sandy had found in the bottom drawer of her desk. Snap, snap, snap. Finally, Gavin instructed him to move out of the frame and for Lorraine to give the camera her back. “Pretend you’re just about to throw your bouquet,” he said.

      She did. Snap, snap, snap. Then he said, “Okay. I’ve got enough.”

      Lorraine let the flowers sail. Without thinking, Chase reached out to catch them. When she turned, her blue eyes were big.

      “Congratulations, Detective,” she said. “I guess a real wedding is in your future.”

      Chase let the flowers fall to the ground. Everyone in the room stared at them.

      Gavin coughed loudly. “Let’s finish up with the groom kissing the bride.”

      Chase felt his racing heart skip a beat. He looked at Lorraine. He no longer felt like a trained seal but rather a fish out of water.

      “Ready?” he said.

      “Ready,” she whispered.

      He walked close and bent his head, intending to merely brush her lips.

      “Make it look good,” Gavin said.

      She opened her mouth and he felt himself settle in. She tasted like chocolate cake and her mouth was warm and wet, and it had been a long time since a kiss had made his knees weak.

      But when it was over, he had to admit that this one had done just that.

      But he sure as hell wasn’t going to give Dawson the satisfaction of seeing it. “Is that a wrap?” he asked, making sure that his tone was nonchalant.

      He ignored the soft hiss he heard from Lorraine.

      “We need to hit the road,” he said. “I want to get to Ravesville before dark.”

      * * *

      DETECTIVE HOLLISTER WAS an amazing kisser. His lips had been warm, his breath sweet and his hands confident as they’d cupped her face. It was as if someone had hit a switch, kicking off an electrical charge that had started in her toes and rapidly spread through her body.

      She’d felt alive.

      And she’d been stupid enough to think that it had affected him the same way. Of course it hadn’t. And she suspected she should be grateful that he’d been an ass about it afterward because she had been about thirty seconds away from crawling up his body.

      That would have been a real photo opportunity.

      There weren’t going to be any more kisses. Not that Chase was probably inclined. He might have played the role of besotted groom, but she could tell that he hadn’t been thrilled to be participating in the farcical marriage. After their ceremony, he had quickly changed into jeans and a T-shirt and, if possible, had looked even hotter. But his attitude didn’t match.

      He was polite. Definitely. But she’d sensed his irritation when they’d had to kill thirty minutes at the salon. She’d looked through the tattered magazines spread about the various tables and he’d focused on his smart phone.

      Chief Bates had been insistent that they wait while the photographer ran a quick errand. He’d come back with a driver’s license for Lorraine Hollister that in every way looked real. She suspected they probably had a back room at the police station where credentials were fabricated on a routine basis.

      She’d looked at her picture. Who was this woman? This blonde Raney. She’d tossed it into her purse and they’d left without further delay.

      Chase had continued to be polite. Had carried her suitcase and opened the car door for her. Waited until she was buckled in before he took off. “Cool enough?” he’d asked ten minutes into the journey, nodding at the air-conditioning controls.

      Other than that, he hadn’t said a word.

      Which maybe worked okay for him, but it wasn’t helping her acclimate to her new life.

      “I can’t imagine that you’re any happier about this than I am,” she said finally.

      He shrugged, never taking his eyes off the road. “It’s important to keep you safe. I can do that,” he added confidently.

      “What’s the plan once we get to Ravesville? Should I be mentally preparing myself for a big wedding reception?” she asked, trying for humor.

      He turned to look at her. “Have you ever lived in a small town?”

      She shook her head. “I’m a city girl.”

      He looked back at the road. “Here’s how it works in small towns. On our way to the house, we’ll stop for dinner at the local café. Not sure of the name of it any longer but for as long as I was in Ravesville, there was always a café on the corner of Main Street and Highway 20. I’m sure it’s still there. I’ll casually mention my name and that I’m back in town to take care of the old house and that I’ve brought along my new wife. By the time we get to dessert, the story will have reached half the community and by morning, the other half will have heard.”

      “Fascinating,” she said.

      “Not really, just the way it is. After that, Lorraine, I hope that you’ll spend most of your time at the house, where it will be easier to provide protection.”

      “Raney,”